An Outrage
Unsurprisingly the Santa Marta outrage – a strike by banana workers in the Colombian town against the harsh policies of the United Fruit Company (UFC), which was broken up by the army opening fire on strikers on December 6th 1928 killing up 2000 according to reliable reports – provoked widespread revulsion. It also resulted in guerrila attacks, which in turn was combatted by the declaration of martial law by then Colombian President Miguel Abadía Méndez.

The massacre and ensuing military operations put the lives of US citizens in jeopardy, rather than the alleged militancy of the banana workers' strike. Some of them had to defend themselves from attack as predictably Colombians reacted angrily to what was termed State Terrorism.

Abadía's popularity plummeted and the Colombian Senate and media and activists reacted to the outrage. Among those to express eloquent disgust was the 25 yar-old rising star of the Liberal Party, Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Ayala. The Santa Marta Massacre was a turning point in Colombian politics. It provided the justification for armed resistance and radicalised Colombia's workforce.  Also the correspondence of US diplomats in Colombia left much to be desired to put it mildly.

Misguided
Despite the disastrous nature of the operation – one that its commander, General Cortés Vargas, only carried out as he believed that a US invasion was imminent – the US Embassy in Bogotá sent appalling dispatches to the State Department, defending the atrocity and then complaining that the opposition was exploiting the situation to criticise the government.

Worse still it gloated over the fatalities. Fortunately for US citizens remaining in the country the arrogant stupidity of the Embassy in Bogotá, shown in a dispatch sent by it on December 11th 1928 to the US Secretary of State was not revealed to the Colombian people. Had it been, an awful situation would have been made even worse.

“The opposition press, that is, the press of the Liberal  Party, is conducting a violent campaign against the Government for the methods used in breaking up the strike, and is bandying ugly words about, especially referring to the Minister of War and the military forces, words such as murderer and assassin being used. Although the thinking people of the country realize that it was only the Government's prompt action that diverted a disaster, this insidious campaign of the Liberal press will undoubtedly work up a great deal of feeling against the Government and will tend to inculcate in the popular mind a belief that the Government was unduly hasty in protecting the interests of the United Fruit Company. The Conservative journals are defending the Government's course but I doubt that their counter-fire will suffice to do away with the damage the Liberal journals are causing.”

The arrogance and crass stupidity of that statement is mind-boggling. There was no justification of that action. It was mass murder and deserved every word of condemnation that came its way, but far worse was to follow.

Utterly Shameful
The passions of ordinary Colombians had understandably been inflamed. Their government had chosen to defend the interests of UFC above the lives of its own citizens through excessive and outrageous violence, which unleashed a violent reaction and denunciation by the oppoition. The bleating of the US Embassy was, however mild compared to the vile gloating over the extent casualties subsequently reported by its 'diplomat.'

“I have the honor to report that the legal advisor of the United Fruit Company here in Bogotá stated yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military authorities during the recent disturbance reached between five and six hundred; while the number of soldiers killed was one,” said his dispatch of December 29th 1928 [my emphasis] .

The next was dated January 16th 1929. It said as follows. “I have the honor to report that the Bogotá representative of the United Fruit Company told me yesterday that the total number of strikers killed by the Colombian military exceeded one thousand,” [my emphasis].

First of all there was not and never can be a justification of General Vargas' actions. It was an atrocity that should have resulted in lengthy prison terms for everyone involved in it. Secondly, the dispatches acknowledge that strikers, not armed workers or insurrectionists, were killed. The delight over this and shameful gloating over the deaths of strikers shows that protesting legitimately for rights recognised in other countries as among the most basic against perceived US interests, waranted mass-murder in the eyes of that so-called diplomat.

The State Terrorism of this massacre led to armed resistance that has lasted over 80 years. It also led to hatred of UFC and the radicalisation of the Colombian workforce. It played into the hands of opponents, not all of whom favoured peaceful resistance. Attacking Gaitán and those demanding justice for the strikers hardly helped.